Gift Restores Earlham College Tennis
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA gift from alumnus Randal Sadler and his wife, Melissa, will enable Earlham College to return men’s and women’s NCAA Division III tennis to the Richmond campus. The college says it will renovate six varsity tennis courts and four recreational courts, which will be also optimized for pickleball.
The college says a search will be launched to find a coaching staff to be able to return to competition in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in the fall of 2022.
“At the height of the COVID pandemic last spring, we were forced to look for ways to reduce expenses without disrupting the classroom experience, and tennis was among the programs that were affected. As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, Randal and Melissa are enthusiastically stepping in and filling a significant void by ensuring the long-term sustainability of this program. I can’t thank them enough for their partnership and longstanding commitment to the success of our college,” Earlham President Anne Houtman said.
The Sadler’s also made a major gift to Earlham in 2012 to support a new baseball facility, the Randal R. Sadler Stadium, which was built in 2013, along with a major gift in 2020 to ensure the college’s men’s and women’s golf programs.